Farm bill could help further timber projects

The recently passed federal Farm Bill should allow the Flathead National Forest to complete more timber and stewardship projects in the future, particularly on less controversial areas of the Forest.

Under certain parameters, the Farm Bill allows for projects as large as 3,000 acres without going through a lengthy environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, Flathead Forest planner Rob Carlin said.

But there are quite a few conditions that projects must follow. Forest planners must maximize retention of old growth and large trees, use the best available science when determining a project and develop projects through a public collaborative process.

Projects can’t have permanent roads but can have temporary roads. Wilderness study areas and inventoried roadless areas are also excluded.

There is no objection phase in the public review process. The only way to challenge a project outside of the collaboration process is to file a lawsuit.

The Flathead Forest will focus on areas designated earlier this year by Gov. Steve Bullock for projects. Bullock did not include the Spotted Bear Ranger District or much of the North Fork, Carlin noted.

Even so, the Flathead Forest has more than 500,000 acres to work with, Carlin noted — including land in the Island Unit and the Talley Lake and Swan Lake ranger districts.

Forest planners will likely look at expanding existing projects first.

They’re also looking at a project in the Haskill Basin, which would not result in much timber yield, but could thin thickly timbered hills with the hopes of preventing a large-scale fire.

The Haskill Basin project likely won’t happen until next year, Carlin said. A main idea of the Farm Bill language is to reduce the risk of wildfire and insect outbreaks.

Another key provision of the bill gives the Forest Service permanent authority to put up stewardship sales — timber sales in which a contractor pays the Forest Service through in-kind work during the project, such as improving a road, completing pre-commercial thinning or other activities, rather than paying the Forest Service directly for timber.

On July 8, Bullock announced his Forests In Focus initiative with the goal of accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration, watershed protection and wildlife habitat improvement on private and federal forests.

“We are at a crossroads with forest health, our mills and the future condition of our forests,” he said. “The aftermath of a years-long mountain pine beetle epidemic, stalled projects on thousands of acres of national forests, and continued threats from wildfires provides a strong basis for increased focus on how we manage forests and how we ensure we have a vibrant wood products industry providing good-paying jobs for Montanans.”

Of the 4.99 million acres of national forest land Bullock proposed for projects under the Farm Bill, 99 percent were approved by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Using authority granted by the last legislature, Bullock plans to make $3 million from the state fire suppression account available for forest health, fuels reduction and watershed restoration projects.

Some of that money will be used to support the Forest Service on projects identified under the Farm Bill.

Other funding will be used on private lands both for land management and to provide wood for mills.

“If the projects have a commercial component, we can treat more acres, or the same amount of acres, less expensively,” Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation director John Tubbs said.